Abstract
Lignin is an essential component of vascular plants, being required for structural support and taking part in defense against pathogen attack. In fact, lignin is one of the most abundant polymers in plants second only to cellulose. In some cases, however, lignin represents an undesirable component of agronomically and industrially important plant species, for instance in the production of paper pulp or in forage plants where the lignin content interferes with digestibility in the animals. In recent years, several studies have been trying to elucidate the enzymes taking part in the lignification process in order to modify and reduce lignin content in plants (for a review see Campbell and Sederoff, 1996; Boudet and Grima-Pettenati, 1996). Among the enzymes involved in lignification, the cinnamoyl CoA reductase (CCR, EC 1.2.1.44) and the cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD, EC 1.1.1.195) have been described as key enzymes in this process. The enzyme CCR catalyzes the conversion of hydroxycinnamoyl esters to their corresponding aldehydes and the enzyme CAD catalyzes the conversion of these hydroxycinnamaldehydes to the corresponding alcohols (better known as monolignols) that are the monomelic precursors of lignin. CAD cDNAs have been cloned from several plants including N.tabacum (Knight et al, 1992), P.taeda (O’Malley et al,1992), A.cordata (Hibino et al, 1993), E.gunnii (Grima-Pettenati et al,1993), P.abies (Galliano et al, 1993), M.sativa and P.deltoides (Van Doorsselaere et al., 1995). Recently, for the first time, the cloning of a CCR cDNA from E.gunnii was reported (Lacombe et al, 1997).
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Civardi, L., Murigneux, A., Tatout, P., Puigdomènech, P., Rigau, J. (1998). Molecular Cloning and Characterization of two cDNAs Encoding Enzymes Required for Secondary Cell Wall Biosynthesis in Maize. In: Lo Schiavo, F., Last, R.L., Morelli, G., Raikhel, N.V. (eds) Cellular Integration of Signalling Pathways in Plant Development. NATO ASI Series, vol 104. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-72117-5_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-72117-5_13
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